The Four Letter "F" Word

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you read the title?  No, it's not that.   Could be that, but not this time. 

The"F" word I am referring to is FALL.  Fall is already here in big sky country, and it's only the first week of September.  We had a glorious 6-week summer, once it finally got here.  There are two weather settings in big sky country:  hot and cold.  For six weeks, we had 90 degree temps and sunshine every day.  There is a reason people with big bucks buy huge homes on their 20 acres of paradise, and come to big sky country for the summer month(s).  When the weather turns, they go back to wherever they came from.  Only the hardy stay during the winter months.

It's dropping down into the 30's at night with a real chill in the air in the morning.  During our six weeks of summer, the day warmed up by 9am.  Lately it doesn't seem to get warm until early afternoon.  My sunflowers are drooping their heads because they know their season is over.  There is a tinge of yellow in the aspen leaves.  My tomatos are trying to turn red, but because we weren't able to plant until mid-June, I am afraid we won't get many of them before the first frost.

During our glorious six weeks of summer L-Town comes alive.  You can tell who the tourists are because they are riding really sweet street bikes, rented from Timber Trails.  I have a bike that I paid $50 for.  An old blue Schwin, with a basket.  The basket keeps falling off whenever I hit a bump in the road and I aspire to a wicker basket.  I found a wicker basket, but it costs more than I paid for the bike.  So I will continue to use my old, metal basket, and hold on to it as we ride around the bumpy streets of L-Town.  Gives the old girl character, and I'm not talking about me.  During our six weeks of summer, I ride my bike everywhere.  Good for the earth.  Good for my health.  I don't have to feed Louise the truck as often.

Ryder and I go for runs in the morning.  Well, he runs, I ride my bike.  He is so good about staying on my right side and he knows to slow down at intersections as I look for cars before we cross the street.  Typically, cars will slow down or stop for us.  Everyone seems to have a smile on their face as they see us; the old lady on a blue Schwin bike and a gorgeous, ginormous gallumpus of a yellow lab running beside me.  Ryder carries his own toys when we walk to the river, which also brings a smile to people around us.  Smiles are good for everyone.  Even if it means its just a teenage dog with an old lady.  I'm good with that.

Now fall is in the air, and I need to wear layers and gloves when we go for our run.  Gloves.  It's barely September.  I was just getting used to wearing light clothes, skirts withough leggings and flip flops.  Out here in big sky country, everything is big, including transitions in the weather.  One minute, it's winter.  Boom, it's 90 degrees and summer has arrived!  Be careful or you will miss it.  Now it is beginning to feel like winter is making its way back.  Sadly, I have more sweaters, longjohns, coats and scarves than I do summer comfy clothes.  I feel like I've just put the damn sweaters away.  The world's ugliest yet best coat ever is just mocking me now.

I miss four full seasons.  Springtime usually means flowers raising their heads out of the ground and trees and bushes flowering.  Springtime usually means  burst of color.  Here in big sky country, if we do get a spring, it means months of rain and grey skies and cold.  When summer finally hits, its a wake up call to plants and birds and those of us that really need color and sunshine as an attitude adjustment.  Summer in most places mean heat, humidity, hurricanes and this year, earthquakes.  I'm very happy with big sky's summertime.  It's hot, but not unbearable.  My hair doesn't turn into an afro because there is no humidity.  I like summertime.

Fall is not an "F" word elsewhere.  I remember fall to be beautiful with maples and oak trees turning orange and red and the sun being crisp and clear.  Fall mean pumpkin picking and carmel apples, in October, where it belongs.  I think its a tie regarding winter.  The east coast gets ice and lately, lots of snow that no one knows how to drive in.  Winter doesn't get really bad elsewhere.  Winter does get really bad here.

Yellowstone in the winter is the best time to see the Park and Mother Nature's beautiful work.  Snow flies around here and nothing shuts down.  Schools stay open, people drive wherever they need to go and the stores aren't left with empty shelves of bread and milk.  During the winter I see more soup making and comfort food items in the grocery.  Or maybe that's because that's what I'm looking for.  What makes winter so different from say, Seattle, is that we get wind.  Cold wind.  Wind that doesn't seem to stop for days.  You haven't experienced cold until you've gone outside to walk and its -10 with a 40 mile an hour wind.  It gets so cold that the bike is put away, and I drive the 3 blocks to the gym.  That's just sad.  I can handle the cold, but the damn wind I can live without.  Rural legend has it the wind is strong enough to roll old men down the sidewalk.  I'm a beliver.

Going through 9 months of winter makes summer in big sky country magical.  It doesn't get dark until 10pm and the night sky is so clear that you want to just lay down on the ground and look up for hours.  The critters are out and the birds are lovely to hear in the mornings.  Once winter comes, we only get the ravens voice.  I don't have a warm spot for ravens.  Or magpies.  We were lucky enough this summer to get yellow tanagers eating all the suet I could put out in our garden.  We had wrens and finches and robins and blue birds, among many others.  Now the morning bird song is "CAW, CAW, CAW".  The ravens love the old oak tree in front of our house.  So lucky.

Weather is a big deal in big sky country.  Everyone has a "favorites" site for the weather forecast.  Last week we got a hail storm.  That's frozen rain.  That's never a good sign in summer that the rain freezes before it hits the ground.  Next up snow flying.  Last year we had 16" of the white stuff in early October.  Everyone who is a local is hoping for an Indian Summer.  That would be lovely.  I still plan on moving my summer happy clothes into storage and getting the winter woolies out this weekend.  Having five big sky winters under my belt I expect the cold.  I don't have to like it, but I am prepared for it.  Until March, when it seems like winter will never leave.

F the Fall word.